48 Year Old Woman Starting to Show Signs of Aging Around Eyes and Jowls. Sydney, AU

Hi. This is a long reviews but if you read it all I'm going to give you the whole story as I wish I had read the same before I went in as I wouldn't have been as nervous.
I was recommended to Dr Gerarchi by a friend who works in the industry and had seen his work. She said the results she had seen were very natural which was important to me as I was only 48 and wanted subtle work for the beginning signs of aging. It may have been a bit young to go for something as dramatic as a facelift but I have spent most of my career working as a model, and as shallow as it is I wasn't enjoying my newly drooping eyelids and slightly sagging jowl area. Going into my appointment my intention was to have a short scar face lift and upper lid blepharoplasty. After discussion with Dr Gerarchi I also chose to have laser underneath my eyes for the dark circles and fine lines that were beginning to appear there. I decided to go ahead with the procedure and when booking staff offered my a deal to also include Total FX Laser to refresh my whole face in terms of skin quality, which I took. Coming up to my surgery date I started to get cold feet/scared and my husband asked me to cancel as he didn't think I needed the work. I called and spoke to Wendy and she gave me plenty of time to talk and was so reassuring that I decided to go ahead. Leading up to the day of the procedure, on the day of the procedure and after the procedure I can't say enough about how lovely all the staff were. I was so scared and worried and they were just so beautiful, caring and comforting. After the procedure I looked a nightmare for a week, my face was so swollen, I had stitches in my eyes and around my ears, my skin was so red and I thought I'd never look like myself again. I had bandages around my head, had to sleep sitting up and had drains hanging from the bandages at my ears. Conversely I had no pain. My husband was horrified and I had to keep telling him and myself this was normal as I had been warned. The second week most of the swelling had gone down and my skin was peeling off from the laser. By the second weekend my stitches were out, I was at a Sunday BBQ and no one could tell the difference. I had to wear concealer and foundation to disguise the bit of bruising that was still there and some redness on my face but it wasn't hard to cover up. From there on it was a bit of a journey, my eye seemed to be pulling in one spot, I had a bit of pull on my cheekbones if you looked from the side and as a beach lover it was killing my to wear so much sunscreen and massive hats to protect my lasered skin. Sam kept reassuring me it would get better and best results would take a year but I wasn't sure and was slightly regretting the addition of the FX Laser to my procedure. For this reason it has taken me 11 months to give my review. Don't get me wrong I have looked so much better post than prior to procedure from week 2 but wanted to get the full results. So.. one year on and they were right. I am almost 49 and people can't believe it if I tell them. I had always looked younger than my age but this has taken off 10 years. The results are subtle no one would ever pick it but my eyes are great they have a lovely, normal looking upper lid and look fresh on the lower lid, my jowls and sagging on lower face have gone but I am not wind tunnel tight, and best of all (thank you Sam) my skin quality is lovely again (although as an olive skinned person I did have a bit of pigmentation because I didn't follow the rules and stay completely out of the sun, but it's gone now).
So I can't speak for everyone else who has reviewed but my experience was amazing from start to finish and when it all starts falling down again I will be back to Dr Gerarchi for the subtle but great results he gives. The 2 weeks downtime whilst highly unpleasant was a tiny price to pay for the long term results.
If I had to think of one negative the only advice I would give is for Dr Gerarchi to spend more time with patients on follow up. I know his time is precious and his staff do a great job in taking over but it would take my rating from a 9.5 to a 10!